My mum turns 70 years old earlier this month. We made her hold a birthday celebration. As Chinese, she likes to add one more year to her age (don't know why). Therefore, I was tasked, or rather, volunteered to bake a birthday cake for her party.It was very stressful to bake such a big cake, enough to feed 30 persons. After thinking through for a long time, I decided to make the most basic cake - Black forest Cake. I wanted to make a cake which I know my parents will like. I've made this cake before, and they liked it. So this time, I made it into a larger cake. The cake sheet was so thin and fragile. It was rather difficult to do the transfer. I baked three 14" x 10" cake sheets. Bought 3kg of dark pitted cherries and two non-diary whipping cream. In the end, I used 2/3 of the pitted cherries and about 1.2kg of the whipping cream. Not to forget the maraschino cherries for decorations.Recipe for one cake sheet is here. Bake at 180C for 15mins. Here are the various steps I took to make the cake. For the wordings, melt compound chocolate and mould it accordingly. Then colour the whipping cream and write the wordings.

This post is sponsored by Liv butter. Try Liv today!Suddenly had the urge to eat apple pie. So I decided to try this recipe from Gordon. Perhaps, it was the other way round. I borrowed this book from the library, and it seemed to be calling out to me to bake it and eat it. So I did! I really love this tart. Using Granny Smith green apple, it was very tarty (and quite sourish). You also see that I used very little sugar for the fillings. It's all so authetic apple taste. I really love it!Recipe for Golden Apple Streuel Tart, modfied from Gordon Ramsay, "Desserts".Makes 8" and 6" tartsIngredients:Pate SucreeMakes for a 8" and 6" round tart pan125g Liv unsalted butter, softened75g Caster sugar2 tsp Vanilla extract1 large Whole egg, lightly beaten250g Plain flourA pinch of fine saltMethod:

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together in a bowl smooth and creamy, but not fluffy. Add the vanilla extract to the mixture.

With the mixer on slow speed, gradually incorporate the beaten egg. Scrap down the sides.

Sift the flour and salt together. With the mixer on its lowest speed, add the flour in 3 or 4 stages. As soon as the mixture comes together as a crumbly dough, stop the machine.

Gather the dough together and turn on to a lightly floured surface, briefly knead it with your hands until smooth. Avoid over-working the pastry or it will become softened by the warmth of your hands.

Wrap in a cling film. Leave to rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 mins or over night before rolling out.

Roll out the pate sucree thinly and use to line a 8" and 6" tart pans, with removable base.

Line the pastry case with parchment paper and baking beans, then chill for 20mins.

Bake the pastry case blind for 15mins at 190C, then remove from the oven and take out the parchment paper and baking beans. Set aside.

February is a month of birthdays in my family. As usual, my younger sister will make her request for cakes. She usually request for chocolate cupcakes with loads of swiss meringue buttercreams. This year, she requested for the Mocha Checkered Cake. However, instead of making it checkered, I layered it.For the layering, I used Chocolate buttercream, whereas for the external frosting, I made Coffee buttercream by adding 1.5tsp instant coffee to 1 tsp hot water to swiss meringue buttercream. The cake was very well received. The coffee buttercream was very strong and fragrant. Everybody liked it, especially my sister who loves buttercream so much!

When it comes to Chinese New Year, no matter how busy I am in baking my cookies, I will always allocate some time to bake Kek Lapis or Cake Lapis or Kue Lapis Legit. Having tried several flavours over the years, I decided to do a Chocolate & Orange Kue Lapis, a combination which I always like!A recipe which I always fall back to is from Florence. In many kue lapis that I've ever attempted over the years, I modified from her recipe. I like her recipe very much because (1) it doesn't use an exorbitant amount of condensed milk and even I replaced it with whole milk and it worked fine, (2) the quantity of egg yolks and butter used is reasonably acceptable. These are in comparison with other recipes, though kue lapis cake uses a lot of butter and egg yolks in the first place! So here is my modified version.Recipe for Chocolate & Orange Kek Lapis LegitMakes a 21cm x 21cm square cake pan. Filled to the brim.Orange LayersIngredients:250g Liv Unsalted butter, room temperature50g Caster sugar10 Egg yolks60g Caster sugar1 tbsp Grand Marnier (or any orange liquor of your choice)2 tsp Orange extract1 large orange zest2 tbsp Whole milk66g Cake flour (I used superfine flour)1/4 tsp Baking powder5 Egg whites30g Caster sugar1/2 tsp Cream of tartarMethod:

Using a laddle, scoop the orange layer evenly into the paper-lined and butter-greased cake pan.

Turn the oven to bake function at 180C.

Bake the first layer for 5mins. Switch to grill and continue to grill at 6mins.

Remove the pan from the oven and scoop the chocolate layer evenly onto the cake pan. Even it out.

Grill this layer for 7 mins.

Continue to alternate the layers and grill at 7mins.

After 3/4 of the pan, reduce the grill timing to 6mins.

After grilling the last layer, turn the temperature to 160C and bake the cake for 8-10mins to ensure it is thoroughly baked.

Remove from the oven and let it to cool in a wire rack for 10mins. Then remove from cake pan and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes:

I realised that each layer was slightly too thick to cook through. That was why there was a transparent layer.

Possibility good to turn down the grill temperature to 160C, and grill up to 9 mins for each layer to let it cook through.

Alternatively, I will have to reduce the quantity in each layer to make it thinner and easier to grill.

Also, noticed the orange zest in the lighter layer.

Overall, the taste of this lapis legit cake was very good. The orange taste came through even though chocolate was more prominent. Orange taste was very subtle, but powerful! With the addition of the extra egg white, the cake was very soft. I like it very much.

One of my (baking) colleague, SL, shared with me on baking the cod fish strips as snacks for Chinese New Year. She let me tried after she had done it and gave me some tips on how to. Initially, I didn't think of baking this, though it's fairly easy. I decided to give it a try after I bought the cod fish snacks. To my surprise, my children loved them! After I tried them again, I found it to be rather addictive!The first batch I baked, half were too blackish as the heat was too high. I tried baking again and watched the oven heat closely, turning up and down the temperature accordingly. This time, it was evenly baked and it turned out nice! So here is how I made it.

Recipe for Crispy Baked Cod Fish KnotsMakes a small canisterIngredients:120g Cod Fish StripsMethod:1. Tie the fish strips into a knot.

2. Bake them at 150C for 9 mins, then turn up to 170 for 3 mins.3. Let it cool thoroughly before storing them in air-tight container.

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About me

My passion is in baking. My dream is to have my own bakery. I've attended numerous workshops and courses. I've attained a Certificate in Professional Baking, Certificate in Cake Decoration and Certificate in Wedding Cake Decoration. I love to learn more about baking, and experience different recipes. I've also started embarking in teaching in baking, and I hope to share my experiences with people who has the same passion as me.
Check out PALATABLE, the blog I set up for my workshops and sales of cakes.